Author: Salireths
I made a wish-list of archetypes for our species customization system. There is a lot of options that we can add into the game, we're going to explore them in this post!
Keep in mind this post is text-heavy: I present you only the broad plans, not everything will end up in the game - it's not a promise of features, it's just work-in-progress ideas. You can use it as a reference of what to expect in the near-future creature designs, and also to suggest which options you'd want us to prioritize creating first (I'd like to hear from you)!
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When making creatures in the species-editor, the player needs to pick their Archetype and Class prior to bodyparts, colors and textures.
The Archetype defines creature's overall 3D models, thus is responsible for their physical appearance: overall body structure, how many (and what kind) of limbs, and lists of swappable bodyparts. That alone however does not tell all the information we need to know...
You probably know what a T-Pose (or A-Pose) for 3D models means - a pose where limbs are in the middle of their extremities that ensures better geometry deformations when that model is animated. I took this concept a bit further, and developed a pose that accompanies not only that, but also bones being scaled and repositioned (within reason) - a new universal pose that is set in the middle between feral and anthro forms, where each limb and the spine is designed so it can be made shorter or longer, leaner or fatter, smoother or bulkier. This is what Class is for:
The Class sets creature's proportions and animations- It can turn the same model into its "anthro" or "feral" forms. It defines the size-range, creature's spine posture (standing upright like humans, or leaning forward like most other animals), and the ways of locomotion (such as bipedal or quadrupedal).
For example:
A feral theropod dinosaur is of Saurian Archetype because how the muscles are structured: thick tail, four limbs, and the unique anatomy of organs under the tail. Their class is Strider because it defines two-legged, dinosaur or bird-like posture.
A feral lizard would be Saurian-Crawler, it would use the same mesh as the dinosaur, but the Crawler class would make their body long and limbs short, and make them move on four legs. It would require a different set of animation rules also.
However, even if Dragons are similar to Saurian type, they use their own mesh because of the addition of two more limbs - wings (and all the related muscles to flight). Draconic-Strider would be a species type of two-legged raptor-like Dragons with six limbs, two of which are wings.
Why do you need to know all of this? I was going to present you with the list of Archetypes and Classes that can potentially appear in the game, but it wouldn't make much sense without this explanation!
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Creature Archetypes
Remember, Archetypes are form-ambiguous 3D models that can be reused for creation of both "anthro" or "feral" creatures (including everything in-between).
Lizard-like:
Lizard group shares similar anatomy, especially when it comes to strong muscular legs, thick meaty tail and all the sexiness under it. The differences are only in the arm/wing configuration.
Snake-like:
The two snake types are quite different, but they both share the very long tail.
Mammal-like:
Mammals have different muscle structure from the Lizard group, especially concerning the butt, the tail, and legs. That creates a necessity to make different body models, while still preserving the same UV layout to share pattern textures and keeping the neck and arms to be universal between them.
Bird-like:
Birds are yet again very different in musculature from both lizards and mammals, and their posterior is, while similar to lizards, has a different design (especially the tail). Thus their orifices are also in a different location. And tails are short and stubby. We don't consider feathers or fur in the base models, as they are added on top.
Human-like:
Human-like anatomy is of course not the only "anthro" choice in the game, it's just all about making these creatures being more similar to human anatomy than any other creature in the roster (definitely not my thing, but a lot of people are into putting a wolf head on a human body). Anthros have humanoid muscles, legs, rears - no tail by default, though an option to have a thin tail is possible. They, for example, definitely won't be able to have the good kind of thicc lizard butt and tail - that's what Lizard-like group is for.
Taur-like:
Something to consider in the future, as it will require a LOT of additional work for adding a taur option almost for each archetype! And the additional upper-body bodies will have to sprout from where the neck is on the regular skeleton. It's a mess, but if there is a demand for it, we can probably do it.
Shared-alike:
Shared group does not have any special models, it is a group of bodyparts that are intended to work for multiple other groups.
Like, for example, a lot of creatures are designed to use shared-heads, hands and feet just to make customization options much more rich. It wouldn't be fun to only be able to use lizard-like heads on saurian bodies, what if you wanted to create a wolf-dragon hybrid? Well with this philosophy of sharing bodyparts you totally can!
Note: I don't like some of the archetype names, especially Naga and Tengu - I think it might rely too much on specific folklore… Of course, Dragons, Gryphons, and Chimeras are technically also from folklore too, but its less specific, feels more blended-in and "expected"? Or I might just be biased - anyway let me know what you feel about these names and I'd be happy to hear your suggestions!
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Creature Classes
Remember from before, the Class sets creature's proportions, posture and animations.
Here I'm just going to throw more tables at you and hope they are self-explanatory enough!
The description table of Classes:
Table of possible Archetype and Class pairings:
As you can see there is a lot of overlap, though some cases have to be unique due to drastic difference in anatomy. The unique cases require much more work to produce.
Here are some notes describing the columns in table further below:
Body Posture: Orthograde is when the spine held vertically like humans, Pronograde is when the spine is horizontally-aligned, like most other animals.
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrupedalism
Leg Posture:
Determines the angle at which legs are held, Sprawling or Erect. Not sure if it would be accurate to describe creatures who have a lot of bend in their knees as Semi-Erect (like those sexy digitigrade upright-standing reptiles you see in some games, spreading their legs at ya).
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrestrial_locomotion#Legged_locomotion
Foot Setup:
The plan is to give player control if they want their creature to be digitigrade or plantigrade, and let them define the length of the foot.
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_foot_morphology
Terrestrial Locomotion:
Bipedal is when creature moves on two legs, like humans or dinosaurs.
Quadrupedal is when creature moves on four legs, like most other animals.
Limbless is when creature does not use limbs for movement, like snakes.
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrestrial_locomotion#Legged_locomotion
Aerial Locomotion:
Wings represents the 5th and 6th limbs the creature would have behind the back, like classical western Dragons. However due to animation quirks wyverns have to have these wings instead and don't have arms.
Wing-Arms represent dinosaur-like feathers on the arms that can be used both for flight (or at least gliding) and manipulation of objects.
Floating is just when the creature can magically float in mid-air. Like eastern Dragons are usually depicted.
Aquatic Locomotion:
Swimming is like humans do it.
Rowing is like dogs do it.
Dorso-Ventral Oscillation (up and down) is like dolphins do it.
Lateral Oscillation (side-to-side) is like lizards do it.
Prehensility:
Our characters can pick up objects, items or ever other character and hold them in their grip. They also need to use that prehensile bodypart to interact with technology and terminals. This column describes what parts of body are more suitable for that activity. Keep in mind that creature can always hold something in the mouth (and other orifices) if it can fit there.
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehensility
Gait:
Gait and Terrestrial Locomotion are most important deciding factors on which locomotion animations can be re-used, and which animations need to be made from scratch.
Alternating the most common gait, "the motion of legs on either side of the body alternates".
Hopping think about how kangaroos move.
Skipping is a mix of galloping and hopping, only suitable for creatures who can otherwise effortlessly float.
Crawling think about lizards and crocodiles.
Slithering think about snakes.
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrestrial_locomotion#Gaits
Elongated Proportions:
This is simply a rough list of what parts of body need to be stretched from the default model's pose.
Shortened Proportions:
Similar to previous list, only for bodyparts that need to be shorter.
The detailed physical-appearance table of Classes:
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Conclusion
If you got to the end of the post and read it all, wow! My utter respect!
There is a lot of research that goes into this project, and most of the time it remains unseen and some people just start to think that the progress is too slow because there is not enough flashy things being shown. But this right here, this is the real planning work for the game's ability to make different creatures, and how to achieve such an ambitious goal without needing an army of artists and animators.
In the near future I'm going to explain how we're going to be animating all this mess - the solution to it is very far from traditional animations methods, very unlike the things we've done before.
I'll be happy to hear your feedback, what creature Archetype-Class combinations sound more exciting for you? Which ones you'd want us for focus on first? Do you have any name-suggestions for these, or perhaps an entirely unique Archetype or Class? I wouldn't know if you didn't tell me, so please - let's just talk about it here or on our Discord channel!
Thank you all for staying awesome!
- With lots of Dragon Love. Salireths.